Hello friends, I'm am so sorry that this took so long! this may be the last chapter I don't know we will see but let's get it started I hope you enjoy ~LNR
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"It's been three hours since they brought us here!" Nell said in annoyance, it was really just fear for after the team found him Brochani shot his final shot and hit Eric in the back.
"Nell, Eric is going to be okay," Kensi said rubbing her back to sooth her, hoping and praying was the only thing that they could do, sure Eric was a strong willed man, but after all the torture that he received there was a large amount of fear of the worse that struck all the team. Callen and Sam sat next to Hetti why though her exterior was solid inside she was a nervous wreck, Sam looked pissed but there was nothing else he could do to hurt the men who did this to Eric, they where all dead, Callen looked the same. Deeks sat next to Nell his arm wrapped around her as he looked off in the distance, and Kensi on the other side rubbing her back as she herself tried to assure herself the same things she told Nell.
Eric's Family sat in a separate room, it must have been easier for them because already the team had witnessed a family receive the bad news of losing their lost one. Deeks thought back to the moment the bullet exited the chamber and hit Eric, it had been a through and through but it also had nicked a lung and an important artery, it was all he could do to keep the blood flow to a minimal, but there was so much and so fast he just couldn't unsee.
Sam stood up with no warning and walked out of the room saying nothing leaving everyone in the room wondering. It only took about three minutes for that question to be answered when Sam returned with a doctor who seemed to be a little flustered. The team stood, their hearts raced with much anticipation as silence taunted them.
"Mr. Beale has just got out of surgery and his family said it is okay to tell you the condition of him." Everyone inhaled holding in the breath as they waited.
"Mr. Beale want through a large amount of trauma but those wounds are nothing serious, however what we are trying to fix is the damage done by the bullet, it nicked an artery causing a massive bleed, this caused his chest cavity to full up with blood, we have drained it but there seems to be a bleed that is hidden and if we don't find it soon and fix it, Mr. Beale's lungs will fail." the air was a sickening silence, no one wanted to say a word.
"As of now he is in a coma, the next 48 hours are crucial."
"Thank you doctor," Hetti nodded to the middle aged man and as he exited the team became a flurry of questions.
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Nell sat next to Deeks in the waiting room, they had stayed behind as the rest went home to get showered and bring back something to eat. Silence surrounded them, the Beale's where with Eric now and the doctor only wanted a few in the room at a time leaving Eric's NCIS family in the waiting room. Nell bit her nails impatiently, this man could be the one and now he is laying in a coma, dying. The surgeons had scheduled another surgery soon and that was terrifying to her, what if they couldn't find the bleed, what if there are complications; all the scenarios consumed her and she continued her bad habit hoping and praying that he would pull through.
"He will be okay Nell," Deeks said, he hadn't talked all day but when he saw her worry he knew that he needed to calm her.
"You're right, he will make it and then I can have my partner back," she smiled at him, it was a weak one full of pain and fear but she had to give him something. The rest of the team arrived all sitting quietly as one by one the Beale family entered and sat as Eric was prepped for surgery it was going to be a long few hours.
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Three days passed after Eric's surgery and everything was looking up, he had sky rocketed to the top for recovery but he still laid in a coma. Nell sat beside his bed as Eric's family went for food. She stroked his hair as his chest rose and fall in a normal pattern, his intubation tube had been removed now that he could breathe on his own. Still in the back of her mind Nell stayed cautious, never intending to get her hopes up.
"Nell can I join you?" Kensi asked with two coffees in hand. Nell nodded and pulled a chair up for Kensi, throughout the past week all of the NCIS family waited, they had even gotten calls from Vance and some from McGee who was friends with Eric.
"Doctors are optimistic that he will wake from this," Kensi said with a smile, she looked to Nell's sad face and immediately knew why. "Nell, what did he say, to you in his goodbye computer note, if you don't mind my asking." Nell looked over to her friend a tear trickling down her face before she opened her mouth.
"He told me he loved me, that no matter what happened he would always love me and be here and that they whole time that he was captive he thought of how he would get out and see me again," Nell smiled a little then sighed and wiped her tears.
"That's so sweet Nell, we all knew, it was painfully obvious."
"I almost lost him Kensi, and I never would have been able to tell him that I loved him too, I still love him. I almost missed my chance and when he wrote that note I was terrified that the only why I could truly tell him my feelings was if one of us were in trouble."
"He always Nell, and you knew it too it was just hard because of the work place rules." Kensi said rubbing Nell's back. Kensi felt a shaking in her pocket and pulled her phone, excusing herself.
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Nell found it hard to get in anytime to be with Eric because his family rarely wanted visitors while they were with him; she was completely frustrated about the whole situation. It was now ten days since and with each passing moment, Nell found it harder and harder to do her days work. A temporary man had been given Eric's job to ease her work load but she hated him. Jeremy Walsh was aggravating, a know it all and a grade a suck up. She just wanted Eric back, the man she loved, his soothing voice, his crazy fashion, and his nerd talk; the whole atmosphere was off and it was driving her up a wall.
"Ms. Jones, may I speak to you?" Hetty snapped Nell out of her daydreams of Eric, she slowly rose from her chair walking to the hall.
"Everything okay Hetty?" Her voice had a slight shake in it, she knew it was about him and with Hetty trying to figure out her mood was damn near impossible.
"Nell, it's about ," the pause that Hetty created between this sentence and the next caused Nell's body to be consumed by fear and anxiety. She look into the small woman's eyes, swallowing hard as she waited for one of the hundreds of conclusions this could have.
"He is awake, and he is asking for you."
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Her heart pounded fast as she passed by the Beale family who had vacated the room after Eric's request. While most of them had a slightly annoyed face, His sister Addie and Mother gave her smiles. She blew out a shaky breath before she slid the door open to his room. Her hands shook and as she slowly made her way to his bedside, he was asleep again making Nell think it was all a dream and that he was in a coma still. This however, was proved to be wrong, as she sat on his bed he began to stir.
"Eric, its Nell" she said, tears welled up in her eyes as his sky blue eyes looked to her and that smile that made her heart melt grew on his face. It was silent for a moment was they stared at one another before Nell broke down and she collapsed into him. She cried hard, tears soaking his hospital gown as she hugged him tightly.
"Oh Eric, I thought I lost you, please never leave me!"
"Nell, I'm right here, I'm okay, I'm not going anywhere," he said as he stroked her hair kissing her forehead as he clung to her right back, he never wanted to let her go. she lifted her head off his chest and looked him intently in the eyes.
"Eric Beale, I love you."
"I love you too Nell Jones!" he responded before pulling her into a kiss.